understands to the hispanics what jobs and freedom of opportunity for all about. so i believe he will win that race because of his proficiency. also, our party has the will to support him not only in just san antonio, but at the republican national committee, we will give him the resources >> -- necessary. that was decided last night, essentially, we could all do this, and i have not looked at the ruling yet, but i believe it comes back and says the way the districts were drawn need to be reconfigured. i disagree with the federal court in the way they ruled, but we will work with the legislature, work to make sure there are fair seats.

in the last election cycle, we picked up three hispanic seats with members of congress who ran and i believe that texans and hispanics will be interested in job growth, job creation, not a continuation in the decline of the middle class and the ability that hispanics have to build themselves from generation-to-generation. i think it is important that we build that argument in texas, specifically among hispanics who see that their chance to get ahead and live the american dream will come for job creation, not through a government welfare program. >> anybody else for congressman sessions? >> yes, we in the back. i grabbed a microphone. there we go. >> i am a member of the news service in boston. i was hoping for your assessment of the congressional district

race in massachusetts, and your thoughts on how when openly-gay, liberal republican might fit with the caucus in washington? >> richard cantor to visit before last year, and he was trying to get a reading from the about national chairman about what i thought about his race and his chances were to have lost work with him, and actually engage with him on picking up a seat in massachusetts he -- mass., which is no small feat. our party are interested in people back home selecting members of congress, not the national party. i have a litmus test, and that is to be able to get elected, and become a professional, honest member of congress where you can contribute to better the agenda we are after. richard has served as the

minority leader in the senate in massachusetts for a number of years. he recognizes that scott brown, who used to be one of his members, 150 -- 56% in the seat that richard is running in. the issues of job creation, and the kind of person that has ethical behavior that is important to the district. richard is running against the current sitting member of congress who had ethical issues and problems, votes for every single tax increase, and have seen jobs the minister across the northeast. i think richard understood early on that i would be a strategic partner with him. we mirrored with him in our organization, and i think you will see full engagement with richard. he and i connecticut and a regular basis, and i would be proud to have him as a member of

our congress. how would he do with challenging issues that are important to him? >> richard is interested in talking about economic job growth, and the ability to create a business -- a future for small business. i do not believe he is on any crusade. he wants to become a professional member of congress and conduct himself just as he did in massachusetts. he will be welcome in our party, and i will be his lead advocate that correct time for one more for congressman -- advocate. >> time for one more from congressman sessions. >> my name is johnny, from the university of akron in akron, ohio, and i wanted your take on the 16th district, betty sutton.

that is a big election. >> jim, as we recall was a car dealer who saw this of administration specifically do things within the world of car dealers -- the government made decisions in the free enterprise system about who would keep car dealerships, who would lose car dealerships, and recognize that when they lost they walked away with virtually nothing. the government picked the winners and losers in the car industry. he was a person among others who took that as a personal attack against the free enterprise system. jim renacci is a man who came to congress, the an incumbent who was a well-known and likable man, but voted for tax increases

and the agenda? pelosi placed before the fall of the house of representatives -- agenda nancy pelosi placed before the house of representatives. he is running against exactly the same thing, both for more tax increases, and puts ohio and the country at risk. he is an outstanding member of congress, and jim renacci will win. we will be there with him. as a patriot, we believe he is positioned for victory, but you and i also recognize it is a member against member race, as i had in 2004 in texas, there are a lot of other people that will come and jump in that race, and that is why the nrc isc fully prepared -- nrcc fully prepared

with our support for jim renacci, and even the democrats recognize this race will be over quickly. >> congressman sessions, thank you for your time. [applause] >> thank you. >> we will bring guy harrison, and the executive director of the senatorial committee from the national republic convention, to talk more about these races and the national landscape. after that, we will bring up analysts, jennifer duffy and david watson to talk about the house and senate contest. grab a cup of coffee, if you would like, and we will have come up here in just a moment. -- up -- we will have them up. just a moment.

-- up here in just a moment. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> thank you for being here. we want to take a moment to introduce guy harrison, executive director of the republican -- national republican committee, and he says -- senator sessions things to pick up 5-to-76. is that what you expect?

>> last cycle, he thought that we would repeal nafta policy, and everyone thought that was not possible, and that turned out -- nancy pelosi, and everyone thought that was not possible, and that turned out to be true. he is pretty good at predicting these races. we feel good about where the plan is. obviously, we are at that point in the election where the real ads happen, so we will see where things end up. >> on the other hand, 53 democrats in the senate, will you take that the majority this time? >> i think we have a great shot. we hit a bump in the road in missouri, that as an offset by connecticut moving in the right direction, ohio moving in the right direction, mich. moving in the right direction, so we feel

we have a good shot of winning. >> let's talk about some of those races. it interests me that in the last few months, a few weeks even, it feels that some of these races might be getting closer. we have seen polls with republicans leading in connecticut, ohio, florida. if these seats are on the table, we are talking about a 54, 55- seat republican majority, right? >> we have a great shot of winning a majority. clearly, in the next month, almost universally, polls have moved in our favor. a couple have gone the wrong way, but in senator brown's race, he is clearly ahead in massachusetts now. ohio, it took awhile for that to move, but that is starting to polarize and the potential that is a ballot -- presidential

ballot. places like michigan are pretty close, but when we began, we were down by one point or two, and now we are ahead. i think there is slight movement in our favor, and the campaign will engage with all of the ads. we are in a good spot. >> when you look to the seats you're trying to pick up, how does the national race help or hurt you? >> i think it is state by state in some of these places. in connecticut, or massachusetts, these guys are running independent races. i think is very helpful to us and the campaigns are taking advantage of the atmosphere. >> gu,y similar question, with millions of ads flying around

the cleveland or toledo media market, how closely are most house contest tied to what happens on a national level? >> in the swing states, fairly well-tied. i think we will be match up pretty closely with the presidential. the presidential race is really not happening on the television set. i think we have a unique opportunity to have a mid term type of race in the fact that the congressional race will be the key race that they see. that is a great opportunity for -- for us. nancy pelosi says her drive back to the speaker's table was centered in california, and that is interesting because i think we will have seats in california.

we look forward to california and new york. >> let's talk about some of the states that are not swing states. john boehner has been visiting delegations. mitt romney gave you money that will go to states where he is not already advertising. it touched the region we touched on richard tisei in massachusetts. >> last night, democrats nominated a woman, in arizona, a new seat in a phoenix suburb, a state--at home -- stay-at-home mom -- she says there leeches on

society. in nevada, you have a guy -- that in on pensions -- double dipping on pensions. he was one of the highest paid public employees as an assistant fire chief, making over $400,000. that is something the taxpayers want to know about. across the street, you have steven cole parking him the top -- stephen who parked in a handicapped spot what he was a state senator. we appreciate every leg up the democrats have given us. >> what about the governor's pick-up? >> we have great opportunities in montana, north dakota,

wisconsin and ohio, but we are running against seasoned people who are running good campaigns. in most of these places come once we get the candidates -- the democrats are basically running personality contest. -- contest. i think that benefits us. that is starting to help in some of these states that we just mentioned. i think we're moving in the right direction. >> let's talk about north dakota specifically. this is a fascinating race. it does gone red forever, it seems at the moment there is a neck-and-neck race. is that how you see it? >> it is a competitive race. she is a good candidate for them as made this again about

personality. at the end of the day, this is a woman who supported president obama, who campaigned for obama- care. she awarded a large new york firm who is now funding her campaign with a sweetheart settlement. i think this race will be close to the end. we are ahead, i believe. i think we will stay ahead, but it will be a real race and there is no question about it. >> let's talk about virginia. i never understand why anybody polls the virginia senate race. it is always tied. who wins this race and how? what happens on election day to make george allen or tim kaine when the race? >> -- win the race? >> one year ago, i would've said the ann romney needs to win and that tim kaine has a -- that mitt romney needs to win,

and that tim kaine has to get swing voters. i do not think that is the case anymore. in a less service, tim kaine is much higher on samples. that is not something i would have predicted one year. boy george allen and a couple of places is pulling ahead of -- george allen this is pulling ahead in a couple of places of mitt romney, but i feel he has done a good job and as a shot at winning. >> here in florida, you've got bill nelson, connie mac. it seems like that racist closing. >> -- that race is closing fast.

>> it is hard to look back and anything he as done that is noteworthy. he cannot walk around and say this is a major piece of legislation. i think voters realize that. they want people that are going to deliver, and i just run so they can join the club, which seems to be what senator nelson is up to. in virginia, ohio, and florida, there is heavy presidential spending bill nelson is on the air with an aggressive ad talking about what he did 20 years ago, which is interesting giving the issues his son as head. -- has had.

i think these races are not going to get away from us. we will have a real shot. >> rob jesmer brought up outside spending and the group said of dominated the election cycle. with one group able to write a check larger than a campaign budget, how do you would buy as candidates to prepare for that? >> you -- advise candidates to prepare for that? >> you always have to be prepared. it seems like that happens more in the primaries than the general election. outside spending has been happening for a long time. i find it interesting that reporters have just noted outside spending once republicans were good at it. we did not have a problem in 2008, 2006, when democrats were running -- writing checks. it has suddenly become a surge of society when republicans have

gotten good at it this purge on society when republicans have gotten good -- splurge on society when republicans have gotten good at it. we understand that. we feel very good about helping out these races, but we value the partnerships that are outside as well. >> do you have any races where the outside spending is hurting you? >> we are pretty good about making sure we are on offense right now. when we are talking about racism in massachusetts and rhode island, the debt -- races in massachusetts and rhode island, the democrats and not doing very well. we will have some tough races. when you pick up 63 seats, there will be defense of targets, but our guys will be prepared. >> let's talk about what we are likely to see in advertising.

anyone turns on a television, you have nothing but negative advertisements. in 2010, i feel like every advertisement was a negative advertisement. over the next few months do you see an advantage in your candidate offering a vision or should they go beat up the other guy? >> listen, all commercials are negative in side of politics and outside of politics. you make decisions based on the differences, not the similarities. the most famous-advertisement of all time is "where is the beef?" you have to define both sides and give the voters a choice. >> the white house refers to negative advertising as contrast advertising.

rob jesmer, will can is offered for-looking -- candidates offer for-looking advertisements, or will they be contrast advertisements? >> i think certainly some people will run positive advertisements. i think guy is right to point out the differences. >> is anybody short of money that you really need to help? >> obviously, we have a long- term incumbent in jim matheson. we feel great about her kennedy see in utah. she will have to step -- candidacy in utah. she will have to stay within 30 points of the romney/ryan

ticket. he might hit 80 in this district. >> 80? >> we had him at 74. >> talk about the candidates that spoke yesterday. why choose them? >> we worked with the rnc ann romney team -- and the romney team, but i think it was a good mix of fresh and candidates that we have on the stage. the doctor from michigan did very well, then we had a good group of candidates. we highlighted north carolina because we will take up a lot of seats in north carolina. the democrats have already given us two of the four, and when you are running in cease their overwhelming, i think we will

get 55, 56%, maybe even 50%. >> let's talk more about the -- 57%. >> let's talk about the paul ryan conversation we had with congressman sessions. we have heard the ideological argument. what do the polls tell you about both sides of the medicare argument? >> we have been doing medicare for one year and have the house races. there is not one additional medicare and run because paul ryan is the vp. democrats said their only strategy was medicare, medicare, medicare. we have probably had 45 polls in the last month and a half, and in our house races we always ask the question ryan's medicare plan against obama-care taking $700 billion out of medicare, and the fact is we win that

argument in every single poll. that is why we have embraced this fight so much. there is only one party that is cutting medicare, and that is the democrats, and we will talk about how they cut medicare and put it in the health-care policy that nobody wants. we look forward to this debate. we thinking people will weeks democrats will start -- stopped talking about this because they will have lost it, but if they continue on this debate, we will win more than a i think the predict today. >> >> talk about more specific races. the two best republican opportunities at the beginning of the cycle was -- or misery and montana. misery seems to have fallen off the table with -- missouri has seemed to fallen off the table with todd akin.

let's talk about montana. >> i think he is taking on some water with his service in washington. he voted for obama-care. he voted for the stimulus and bailouts. those are starting to penetrate, which is why he went on the air today saying he was opposed. this is where we have to win between 45% and 43% of independence. we need a majority. i like where he is right now. hester was running a good campaign a few months ago, and is still running a good campaign, but the competitor is a solid plan, and no-space we're up a couple of points. >> nevada -- i think we are going to pick up a couple of

points. >> nv? >> i think people missed judge to the ethics committee issued. people thought the bottom would fall out. that is not something we thought would happen. we think it is damaging to her with the swing voters tend -- voters. we are ahead convincingly. i think he is very underrated as a politician and as a guy representing nevada. he relates well. shelly berkeley, 100 yards away from the strip, i think she has a hard time relating to people in nevada. we've had a four-to-six point lead for four or five months, and i think that is where the races today. with presidential spending, the race will be close, but i feel

like senator heller is going to win. >> i will ask one more question, give me a race that we are not talking about now that we are going to be an election date could be the big surprise? >> i do not think our surprises are in massachusetts and rhode island. i will go with joe cores in colorado. it is looking very good in the presidential. it is a swing district in a swing state that is turning overwhelmingly to the right. it is yet another race for the democrats around the defensive, where they would like to be on the offense. >> rob jesmer, what senate race are we not talking about enough? >> if you add up all of the polls. >> you have fewer polls to deal with with -- than guy.

i have think yesterday's poll was significant, litigating the wwe service of linda mcmahon. this is challenging, but linda mcmahon is running really good campaign. we're pleasantly surprised where we are there. i think, frankly, the main senate race we have a long ways to go. we will let that shakeout. >> why? whether we missing? >> it is a three-way race, run against two democrats. we do not need romney's belive shares to win the state of

maine. clearly, we need to catch a little fire, and that starts happening, if if that starts happening, the race starts to go, and that is challenging for the democrats. your a strategist on their side, and san diego stars going up, and our guy goes up, they are in a challenging place. unlike my counterpart, we do not oversell things, but i think the race is just beginning and we will see where we are in a couple of months. >> let's open it up for questions. yes, ma'am. >> hi, i'm with the alliance to save energy. obviously the economy and jobs are the biggest issue for voters, but gas prices are rising and pretty precipitously.

will that play, i'm assuming that continues to go up, what impact energy issues and policies will have on voters? >> i think energy policy is the under-sold story of how we won back the house last cycle. along the ohio river valley, this president has a problem with people that produce energy and communities that produce energy, and those communities are voting against him. we have greater opportunities to keep those seats and pick up seats in energy-producing areas. the president has an odd-of-the- above energy strategy which just means he does not like energy produced in the ground, but the unfortunate part is a lot of americans make their job in that industry, and they're sick of being demonized. we feel good about the races.

i would encourage obama's next design. -- visit. i do not think he would get a good entrance there. >> this is a real head- scratcher. i do not understand. we have energy. we have an abundance of resources to wire we not taking advantage? it is great for the longest -- resources. why are we not taking advantage? it creates jobs? people see the pipeline and the epa that as out-of-control. i think this issue resonates with people. i just wonder what in the hell is going on in d.c. i think it is favorable for us. it is hard to find a state where the president's policies are more popular than the

republicans' policies. >> who else can i call here? anybody? yes, sir. >> good morning. i was wondering what your take is on candidates running on sequestration? it is a d.c. term, we know what it means, but some republican candidates are really running on that. >> in virginia, i think that is one of the reasons why george allen has had good movement over the last six-to-eight weeks. i think he takes the most advantage of it and has done the best job. i think it is an important issue. i think a lot of people are effected, and the frustration in general, the umbrella tone of the campaign, there is no reason why we could not be talking about this now.

waiting until after the election is cynical. people see through it. you have the administration pressuring defense contractors not to follow the law, which will lead to employees losing their jobs. it is incredible. whether it is sequestration or passing a crime budget, or a comment -- a serious budget or entitlement reform, where is the president put the plan? there is no dispute that entitlement reform is going out of money. i do not get -- you might disagree with congressman ryan plan, but it is a serious plan. i think there is a level of seriousness with most of our candidates, and a lack of

seriousness in confronting serious problems on the democrat side. >> at do you want to add anything? >> i think he handled that. [laughter] >> time for one more. i have -- anyone else? >> bill, "stiglitz post dispatch -- saint louis post- dispatch." >> can todd akin be successful -- >> thank you for your time. [laughter] akin be todd successful demonizing the republican party bosses and will lead bleed into other races? >> i have obviously thought about this [laughter] first, i think congressman todd akin is a good and decent man

who served this country while and we should not throw away -- well, and we should not throw away his career based on what he said. that does not mean he is a suitable candidate for office right now. there is not one poll by suggests he could win, either that he has produced, or that has been the third-party, independent poll. i think that is why you see so many people in missouri, members of the delegation, the state speaker of the house say this is not your time, todd. he says he is going to run. we take him at his word. i think they're just is not a path to victory for him right now. with regards to how other people deal with it, you know, this is one of the few times looking back where there is basically

unanimity among elected officials and in a group of people who normally, frankly, give leadership a hard time, kind of the right-wing, talk- show conservative circles, which are helpful to our party but a lot of time to not agree with everything that is done. we were going to be -- to be clear mechanical. he is now down 11 points. we will not lose by 20 points, but last year he had a favorable. we will see. congressman todd akin has done a lot of great things for the cause, the pro-family, social issues cause, and there would be nothing greater than beating claire macskill to continue

that cause. >> rob jesmer, guy harrison, thank you so much for being here. [applause] we will take a short break. let's also say thank you to bill from cds news for being here as well. -- cbs news for being here as well. [applause]

>> ladies and gentleman, folks, let's bring it back here for a second. jennifer duffy is the editor at the "cook political report." two of the smartest people in politics, the only two people i go to if i'm worried i will stay -- say something stupid. jennifer is happy because she can say what she thinks because rob has left the building. is rob telling the truth?

>> he is not not telling the truth, and here's what it comes down to. i have enormous respect for rob , but they have come into the cycle meeting four seats, and the pact was clear. it has gotten harder. the easiest path for a majority went through misery, and as long as todd akin is the nominee, missouri is off the table, and they have to find another seek to secure the path. it is still there, but it is harder. i gave them a 50/50 shot, and now let think it is about a 45% chance. they do have a great shot in some places that surprise me a little bit. we have been talking about

racism in montana and virginia now for for 18 months this is where it gets interesting. linda mcmahon is running ahead by three points to. that is real. she has the democrat on the defensive. this is a place where democrats have not spend money. they will have to spend money there. if misery is off the table, you will see republicans tried to put more -- from missouri is often the table, you will see republicans try to put more places in places like florida and michigan. indiana has been more interesting. i know democrats want to make arizona a tossup race. i am dubious about arizona because of the demographics

there, and democrats have a candidate that has had a free ride for a long time that ends today. republicans have have some disappointments. it is harder for them to get there. they can still get there, but they need a few breaks. >> david, how about you? what did guy harrison say that was right and wrong, and what is your range in the house? >> i think he was more or less on target. i would take a less bullish view of the republican chances in the house. we have had three ways where elections hit a low, but it will not be partisan, it will be generational. we have 62 seats with no incumbent on the ballot in -- which is a record since 1992. we have 36 races with major

vulnerable seats. the vulnerability is relatively even. we could have between 25 and 30 seats in the house that switch hands, but then that in the house could potentially be 0 -- the net in the house could potentially be 0. if you have to force me to take a side, i would say democrats are more likely than not to pick up a small net, but it will not be a large shift. i do not think the democrats are where they need to be to take back the house, but it could be a wash. i would not rule that -- roll out that republicans could pick up a small number of seats. reid wilson, you wrote a great column about how we vote what we

eat. you cited dead in 2010, out of the 66 -- cited that in 2010, out of the seats democrats picked up, 86% contained a cracker barrel, and 26% contained a whole foods market. i was reciting the statistic before a group of young democratic professionals, and a young lady raised her hand and said are you sure you did not mean crate and barrel, i have never heard of cracker barrel. i think that tells you about the challenge. >> there was a great piece in "the washington post" with cracker barrel against whole foods, and this is why the cit fla thing was so big. -- chic-filet thing was so big.

this sounds like 1992. >> the other thing about 1992 is we had 19 incumbents that lost primaries, 24 that lost general elections. we could have a similar pattern. part of that is 13 member- against member -- member-member raises. we have already 16 incumbents guaranteed to lose primaries between the five that lost the nominations, and 11 that are guaranteed to lose in member against member raises. could we see as many members lose primaries as general elections? we have fewer and fewer districts that are competitive between parties in the general election. the primary has become tantamount to election spirit >> i want to go back to the senate.

-- election. >> i want to go back to the senate. over the last two cycles, we have seen the d.c. republican sect not welcome, but actively a bad thing what does it say about the republican party at large? we've seen texas and indiana with conservative insurgents winning, and on the other and more moderate candidates winning in wisconsin, nebraska, and arizona, well, that is debatable in arizona. >> it is interesting. even in missouri, i do not think the two party movement was he guided by a candidate. when tea party activists are united, the connection makes progress. they were united in texas. they were united in indiana.

there were a number of places where they could not unite behind one candidate. wisconsin is a great example, and it paved the way for tommy thompson to win that. he is the more electable candidate. as somebody who has done this for a long time, there is something here i do not understand. why not do elect the ability first? sometimes half of the glass is better than an empty glass. i have never understood the desire to have ideological purity, but it has absolutely her republicans for the last three cycles. i understand the nrsc position. they have taken a hands-shot approach, and at some point, the tea party will realize that in

terms of elections they have done the party a lot more harm than they have done good. i am sure i will get a lot of hate e-mail following that comment. some of thek about bonds will republican seats, the things rob does not want to talk about. he barely touched on massachusetts. he said scott brown is ahead. do you agree? >> he is a head today. i have a bias, being from rhode island, and what people do not understand this massachusetts does not begin and end in boston. the short does not begin and end there. there are a lot of places where scott brown resonates, places like blue-collar democratic towns. the other thing you need to appreciate it is 52% of voters

register as independent. scott brown is 20% of the vote, which is doable. i think there is a path to victory for him. i think they brought -- they have run a really strong campaign against some odds, not the least of which is the perception that he might not be able to win and the strength of elizabeth warren's fund raising has been impressive. she is running good campaign, but has some mistakes. >> what about nevada? shelly berkeley faces ethics problems. maybe there were some on the scale for her before this popped up. >> i think these problems did take the thumb off of the scale for her. i suspect she is now going to

have trouble making inroads in the places that she needs to. she was always going to win las vegas. what she really needed to do was get north into washington county, where democrats have been trying to make inroads for the last few elections, and really run even award a little bit better there. that will be very hard for her now. -- or a little better. -- even a little better there. i will be very hard for her. i think it will be a close race. i really do. >> david wasserman, let's talk about some of the rates that are -- races that are overlooked. colorado, what are your thoughts? i do not remember guy's, but

regardless about what our races where people should know where which is what the candidates are? >> i would not say the situation is beer goggles ugly, but the debate has gone from beer to politics, and jennifer could illuminate that with her senate experience, but in 2010 we had a difficult election for a democrat in the denver suburb who faced a strong candidate in frazier. he held on. i do not see how after winning in 2010 he will lose in 2012, the totally since the obama campaign will be ramping up the turnout effort, and latinos are a fast-growing demographic in the denver suburbs. some of the other races that we have overlooked are states like north dakota. there is an interesting house races where democrats have a long shot opportunity after

kevin kramer, basically republican nominee to overthrow the state's republican party to get the nomination. democrats have no. -- appealing candidate in the former state representative. if i had to take a race that is not close right now, in southern west virginia, i agree with guy harrison and rob jesmer when they talk about energy issues in that part of the country hurting democrats and president obama. is it possible letter race will tighten up if obama is somewhere south of 35% in southern west virginia? >> south of 35% in the democratic district. very strange. north dakota. i'm fascinated by this race. tell us about it. >> you have a statewide elected official, essentially, who was

ousted at -- as the at large congressman in 2010. yeah the former attorney general, who was the gubernatorial nominee -- you have the former attorney general, who was the gubernatorial nominee in 2000, and she had been out of politics. she is running as the moderates moderate. she talks about health care being necessary, but not perfect. she goes after the president's heart of things like energy, especially the keystone -- president hard on things like energy, especially the keystone pipeline. she is not a huge fan of the federal government, but she does not dismiss it. she talks about how to best use it. the struggle in this race is there were a couple of million dollars in negative ads thrown at him in 2010. he is a membeof an institution

with an approval rating of 12, which makes people think twice. this is a much closer race than it ought to be. if you ask republicans nine months ago whether this would be a tossup, they would say it is a republican, but i think this is a tight finish. i think there is a problem because she has to weigh--- way over-perform the president, maybe by 10 points or better. >> this is one of those points where if you tell me in senate races across the country that crossover voting will control the senate. >> i think we are talking about a lot of seats like that. in massachusetts, you have a split ticket. scott brown is going to win. you need places like that in

nevada. in the dead in hawaii, and new mexico and other places. you need that in hawaii and new mexico, and other places. ladies and gentlemen, i would like to open it up for questions for david and jennifer. >> yes. i have a question about to the below redo races in the house from 2010 played again in 2012 with kentucky and tin-up in new york. there were close last time. >> two fantastic races. kentucky 6, ben chandler, he had a sweetheart deal in redistricting. the legislature made that about two points less republican. he is one of the few democrats left in a region that is challenging for democrats, more challenging every year.

the strong republican candidate has more of a head start this time around. i would be more cautious about predicting that race then i would new york's first. on the eastern tip of long island, where tin dish up is a democrat who won -- tim bishop is probably the favorite to win again. i do not think things could get much worse on long island than they did in 2010, and he might enjoy a rebound. >> all right. somebody else. a question for david or jennifer? >> we should have one of those twitter scrawling screens. if nothing, i will go ahead and ask about indiana. this is another race where i feel it should be in the likely republican column, right? it is a hugely bread state,

president obama -- read state, president obama will not win, but it is close their. >> he saw senator lugar godown in that primary to richard morris, but what is interesting is people associate him with the tea party, but i have never seen a candidate have a worst 48 hours a day election talking about how he would compromise with people that agree with him. the democrats found a candidate, congressman joe don lane, who is a moderate, in tune with a lot of indiana voters. i think the race is fairly even. this is one of the places where donnelly will have to over- perform the president to win. i think you will see some

republican outside money in there pretty soon. some has gone in there, but i think they will start talking about donnelly's voting record more, and try to put some light between him and murdoch before long to >> anybody else? -- before long. >> anybody else? start here. there you go. >> thank you. you spoke a little bit about the florida race for senate, but could you expand on that? what are your thoughts about mack and nelson? >> one of the things thatm said -- rob jesmer said that was true to his bed in battleground states the senate races are starting to polarized -- trio was that in battleground states

the senate race is -- races are polarizing around the presidential race. there has been one of the most interesting recruiting seasons. candidates would get in and get out, and that primary was just last month, so the race has just started. i think this will end up being a closer race than most people think, whether tiny map can put it over the top or not, -- connie map can -- mack can put it over the top or not. they think bill nelson has gone a free ride. if you look at the 2006 race, yet -- that could be true. i did not have that as a tossup yet, but it could get there sometime in september. >> this is the primary where connie mack decided not to

debate because the premier was over three weeks before the primary was over. >> time for one more question right here. fantasticated >> i will take off my texas hat and put off the new york head, wondering if david could talk about chris gibson, and the other freshmen who won in new york that is the be in>>e republicans and four vulnerable democrats in new york. burgle, syracuse, that is the most challenging one for the republicans to hold. you have two in the hudson valley. one is in the suburban part of the valley. as you mentioned, there is the north. hayworth is in trouble.

not because of redistricting, which did not change her district that much, but because she has been a forceful chief party flavor economic conservative. she is basically a very strong component with the clinton white house aides that raised a lot of money for that district. getting rave reviews, a very middle-of-the-road guy. focused on lyme disease and rural broadband, much more bread-and-butter to his district. but his district changed a lot in redistricting. 57% is new to him. treatment, the democratic prosecutor, that will be one of the bellwether races in the house. >> i want to thank you all for being here.

[applause] first of all, thank you, david. thank you all very much. a great panel. thank you, folks. >> we will join them again tomorrow to hear what they have to say about politics, the republican party. that was "national journal live up." we will hear more speeches tonight. first, we're hearing more about races for the house and senate. let's talk more about tampa. it is in the 11th congressional district. first elected in 2006, florida's senators are bill nelson and marco rubio. they will have the honor of introducing mitt romney tomorrow night at the culmination of the

republican convention. here to talk about hispanics and the republican vote for campaign 2012 is jennifer corn, joining us from tampa. she is the executive director of the hispanic leadership network. tell us more about what the hispanic leadership network is. >> thank you so much for having me on. i am very happy to be here in tampa. this is an organization where we are building the largest grassroots network of advocates. within the country when it comes to issues like jobs and poverty, health care and education, we help to bring leaders together and inform those policies. >> what do you see as the key issues that the community is thinking about? >> the number one issue over the

last year, every poll and every event that we do, is jobs and the economy. even though unemployment for the average american is 8.5%, among hispanics it is 11%. we are really focused on jobs and the economy, how we feed our families in keep a roof over our heads. it is about thinking about their pocketbooks. >> an nbc poll recently looked at hispanic voters. president obama, governor romney, what do you read from those numbers? what do they mean to you? how should republicans try to motivate and win over hispanic voters? >> there is definitely some work to be done. we showed that in 2004, with

president bush. hispanics, by and large, are very independent voters. i think that as you see them really paying attention to this race, with the conventions and the debates coming up, we will start to see what they are willing to listen to. right now, you know, they are very disappointed with president obama. he promised a lot within the community when he was campaigning. he broke a lot of promises when it came to jobs. host: we are speaking with jennifer corn. here are the numbers to call. for democrats, 202-737-0001. for republicans, 202-737-0002. for independents, 202-628-0205. our guest served as the director of hispanic and women's affairs

in the white house, often as public liaison for the george w. bush administration. she was also the national hispanic director and south side coalition director for the present bush 2004 re-election campaign. looking at past races and the hispanic vote, the miami herald talk about the same numbers, saying that george of the bush got as much as 35% of the latino vote in 2000 and 2004. john mccain got 31% in 2008. why are the mitt romney numbers lagging behind those? >> a lot of it is outreach, going into the community. also, i think that most americans are starting to pay attention to the race. that is why this has presented as a window of opportunity for the romney campaign.

which is happening. you will see the spanish language advertisements increasing. they will go out and be surrogates for him, including senator marco rubio. in fact, he came and spoke with us yesterday. it was a wonderful message of an american dream. that is what is at the heart of the hispanics. the opportunity to work hard, get a job, and make it in this country. giulio, anar from independent caller. caller: i am half for rican, half a venezuelan. -- puerto rican, half venezuelan. i do not see them waking up to

what hispanic voters believe in. your guest mentioned a lot of hispanic voters being independence. i think it was gary johnson who had a stance on the war on drugs and the economy, with gold and silver, his stance was much more permanent. especially with the war on drugs. lots of these inner cities around the country, even in florida, the war on drugs has really escalated to a point where if you put an end to the war on drugs, it benefits the minority communities around the country. the way that the imf came into argentina, there were a lot of hispanics over there.

it is going to affect hispanic voters tremendously. i do not think that those donations are going to do anything for those communities. >> drug war, federal reserve, and monetary policy? >> one thing that the caller brings up and shows within the community, the hispanic community is not monolithic. just like the rest of america, for either candidate to make that mistake would not be correct. we all think differently. i have to say, it will go back to jobs and the economy. with 11% unemployment, we need someone who can make those policies to improve our country. what i am hearing from the small business community is that they

are afraid of the health-care laws not expanding. they cannot get access to capital right now. like the rest of the country, we're worried about jobs and the economy. that is the most important issue. >> westchester, new york. bill, republican. >> i have two questions. one of them is -- what is your position on the change pro laws and illegal immigrants voting? the voter id laws down in florida, which should be done throughout the country, american citizens, whether or not they are hispanic, black, white, or asian, them being the only ones eligible to vote in the election. i would like to know what the

hispanic community is regarding the obama eric holder position around drug cartels. they have killed 50,000 mexicans in mexico. they are arming the drug cartels. i am understand why the hispanic community is giving so much support to an administration that is not only selling guns, but a president who is basically trying to hide it with his executive privilege. >> thank you for the question. on the voting rights, voting is one of the most precious things in our country.

my husband served in the marine corps for years. we have to thank them for the freedoms that we have, which includes voting. we need to secure our voting rules. like showing identification to vote. a good example is south carolina. if you cannot get an identification, they will provide one for you. if you cannot get a ride to get an identification, they will take you to get one. we support being able to show identification to secure the voting system that is very important to us. i would say that, of course, we do not want done is running down to mexico. what happens is, when human traffickers come into the country, they prey on the hispanic community.

that is something that we definitely think should have been done away with. we hold the department of justice accountable right now. >> under president george of the bush, organizing the campaign that touted the bush record in supporting hispanics. jennifer, you talked about the economy and jobs as a big issue for the latino community. the herald says that polling 53% shows it was the most important issue. but that the dream act was the most important. talk about the mitt romney position on the dream act and the changes in the law that president obama made recently related to young immigrants who came here illegally and are now getting relief and an opportunity for jobs.

>> the thing about the dream act is that it is one small portion of a huge problem that we have in america. we have a broken immigration system. people cannot get to this country legally in a timely manner. our congress has done nothing to address it. i have to remind people that president obama said he would address immigration within the first hundred days of his presidency. not only did he not, he waited two years, when he had a veto through congress and he could have passed that health care law through. had he cared so much, he could have passed a law within those first two years. suddenly five months before election he decides to circumvent congress and do an

executive directed dream back? one, he broke his promise. two, it was a political move. if he cared about it so much, why did he not do it three years ago? we need someone who can come into office and reach out across the aisle. immigration reform is such a touchy subjects. the guest worker program, clearing the backlog for u.s. citizenship, really changing the system to reflect the needs of our country. we saw what he did, which was nothing, and that did something for political reasons. why would we want someone in their who cannot work across the aisle? when mitt romney was the governor of massachusetts, he had a heavily democratic

legislature and he was able to get those policies across the aisle. right now is such a divided congress. the president has not been able to do anything to bring republicans and democrats together. that is one thing that mitt romney does have. he wants to address immigration reform and fix the legal system, so that people do not have to come here illegally. i have to say, my brett -- my grandfather came through the program in the 1950's when there was a guest worker program. we need a system by which people come in here and work as guest workers, then go back to their countries, if they like to. there are many things about immigration that the president has not been able to address. >> antonio, democratic caller, miami, welcome. i would like to say something -- i will respect everyone else,

but we the voters are not respected. everything going on out there is a boycott. i do not know if you were born here, young lady, or mexico. i do not know where you come from. i am cuban-american and have been here longer than you. i have been here 50 years already. i escaped from cuba for a reason. and this is the best country in the world. boycotting everything that obama is trying to do for your people -- whenever you are, let me tell you something, mitt romney has done nothing for no one.

he set up private factories in united states and we went bankrupt. he did not even pay the mortgages on the construction of those factories. he has thousands of people working for him and he laid off everyone. he did not return the money is, he did not return the mortgages. he owes money is to the federal, to the income tax, to everybody and he is getting away with it. >> lets get a response from jennifer. guest: obviously, he is privy to information that we do not have. i am not sure how he gets that information that mitt romney does not pay any taxes. he is right about one thing, america is the greatest country. i am so proud to be american. my grandparents were able to

give me that american dream by working hard, being the first to go to college in my family. one of the greatest things about america is the fact that you can come to this country and build a business and be successful. that is exactly what mitt romney did. the fact that we ascribe something negative to his employing of thousands of people, and the work that he did still employs thousands is a wonderful thing. we want everyone in america to be able to work hard and be successful. we should not punish success. it is what makes this country great. host: yesterday, on "national ," the talk about mitt romney.

>> the peak was george of the bush, when he got 44%. with a majority of the sun belt hispanic vote. he reached out and was aggressive and proactive. it is more troubling 10 years down the road than it is for this election. every month, 50,000 hispanic youngsters turn 18 years old and become eligible to vote. it will be that way for the next 20 years. it is very clear that republicans are willing to need to do better months hispanics. not a majority, but more the george bush territory going forward. >> that was national journal, live yesterday. jennifer, talk to us about young

hispanics and how republicans can make inroads with them. guest: i would say absolutely. 50,000 hispanics turn 18 every month. those numbers are only going to grow. getting them involved is one of the challenges. getting them to see that they can make a difference by becoming advocates. that is one of the things we do in the network. we want to hispanic voters to know that they have a voice. they can speak to their elected officials. i would say that as far as those numbers, he is correct. that is one of the whole purposes of the hispanic leadership network, in gauging the community and becoming more involved and successful. hispanics no, 66% identify as

democrat, but when you poll them on issues, they are conservative, overwhelmingly. when it comes to lowering taxes, smaller government, education. what used to happen is that those messages used to -- need to go into the community. we need our leaders, which they are doing, going out and having that message of what we think it's great for this country, which will in return bring prosperity and opportunity to america -- it is consumers talking and giving them the respect that they deserve, asking them, will you vote for us? will you support us? that is one of the things they did back in 2004. one year out we built a team of 32,000 hispanic volunteers with leaders in 30 different states,

campaigning truck the country. that has been the key to getting into the community, giving them the time and respect that they deserve. >> a different perspective, "is not just about immigration. it is about jobs as well." you can let us know what you're thinking through twitter, use our-tag for this week, -- has tag for the week. david, your next. caller: if not the dream that, how do they suggest we deal with the 12 million or 13 million people in the united states illegally? thank you.

guest: nice and simple. i like that. thank you. most viewers probably know that senator rubio was on track to put an alternative to it out there. it was starting to gain bipartisan support until the president did his executive directive. it will probably emerge again, regardless of who becomes president. immigration reform needs to happen at the federal level. we need to secure the borders in a way that gives border security everything that they need. that has bipartisan support. we also need support for the program i was talking about earlier. we worked on the hill for many years. those three subjects for able to gain bipartisan support from republicans and democrats. once we can tackle those

issues, we can tackle the issues of what to do with 11 million undocumented people. some of these different options out there are -- i think you have to have committed a crime, paid back taxes, and earned the legalization -- not citizenship. that way you are on track and we do not circumvent the legal system. host: republican, madison heights, wisconsin. caller: michigan. host: excuse me. caller: no problem. i could not help but overhear, the hispanic republicans helped to vote in george bush. he i was wondering, my question is, how do you feel knowing that

you put so much support behind george bush back then and last year he was convicted of war crimes in a tribunal in malaysia. how does that affect the way that you put your vote out? what are your feelings towards representative ron paul, the man ignored by all the media, who has more support than barack obama and mitt romney combined? guest: working for president bush was an honor. he is an honorable man who helped this country tremendously in a time after 9/11 that was very difficult for us. history will show that he implemented the right policies. i am proud to say i worked for president bush. host: deborah, democratic line.

go ahead. caller: [unintelligible] host: she is breaking up on us, but she was talking about deportation. we have a clear message along these lines as well. self-supporting, weigh in on that. >> absolutely. yes. president obama is according -- deporting the most immigrants in the history of all presidents. we have a record of a president actually doing that right now. the town and rhetoric used on immigration makes me sensitive to the hispanic community on the town of views. we can still be very conservative on immigration.

there are some who are very conservative on immigration and some that are more liberal. the way that we talk about immigration, to that point my vice would be to watch the town and the rhetoric. host: what about his comments from the past about those who should leave the country that came here willingly? guest: we are supporting fixing the immigration system. the point the makes about fixing the legal system is where we would like to focus. the self-deportation line was not very helpful. that does not negate the fact of

the legal system. we would like to focus on the items that were being talked about before. host: what is the message you want to hear from leaders tonight? guest: we are excited to hear from the speakers. we did get a little sneak preview. their vision of offense is what we will hear. what it means to them, how to return prosperity and opportunity back to america, for all americans, right now we are suffering. there are people up there without jobs who have been foreclosed upon.

we want to hope. the hope that we thought we would get in 2008. the country is not going in the right direction. you will hear about their stories and how they want to see the country go in the right direction. host: jennifer korn, executive director of the hispanic leadership network. thank you so much, jennifer, for being with us. in just a moment we will talk about the port of tampa and why it is such a big source of industry there. we will be joined by the director. later tonight, we will go live to the tampa bay times forum, where things will be unfolding this evening, starting at 7:00. it will be the site of speeches, including those from representative paul ryan, the

republican of wisconsin, who got the official nomination to be the vice presidential pick on the republican ticket yesterday. he will be making his case to the american people tonight. other speakers in the lineup include some hispanics. let's take a look at what some of the lineup has to show for tonight. who will be speaking and addressing the audiences gathered there? we will hear from some members of congress, mitch mcconnell, who will start things off at 7:00 this evening. ron paul, who has been talked about a lot lately, as well as john mccain, who made his run for the white house four years ago. 9:00, but the governor of puerto rico will take to the stage. we will also hear from tim pawlenty and mike huckabee, starting at 10:00 this evening.

after that, condoleezza rice will be addressing the crowd. also, susanna martina's. the one hour last guest talked about looking forward to hearing tonight. as i mentioned, paul ryan will give his vice presidential nominee acceptance sheesh. -- speech. marco rubio, he will be introducing the man running for president on the republican ticket, mitt romney. we saw his wife give an introduction last night. we will actually revisit that later on this morning. we will hear that again and there will be an opportunity for you to give your feedback about what you thought about her speech in particular. we will also listen in to the governor chris christie speech. we will air that again after "washington journal" wraps up

again today. we have a convention hub, the place to look to get a sense of the lineup of what is to come. we have talks and schatz amongst the people in tampa and attending the convention. there are between 13,015 thousand members of the media covering this convention. -- 13th thousand and 15,000 members of the media covering -- 13,000 and 15,000 members of the media covering this convention. the amount of activity being used at this event, technologically, is the most ever utilize for any event seen in florida. this is the first time that republicans have gathered to pick a nominee in florida.

in 1972 they came together in miami beach, and the democrats were here as well. 1972 was the last time a presidential convention was held in florida. there are over 7500 volunteers on side being used by the republican national committee and other groups getting the convention going. one of only four national security events happening in 2012. other examples include g-8 or g- 10 summits -- g-20 summits. they received a grant here in florida to ramp up security on these events. yesterday we visited or the mayor of tampa.

you can find that interview on c-span.org, if you miss it. we are talking about tampa, putting a spotlight on the host city every morning at 11:30 on "washington journal." joining us now is the director of the port of tampa. richard wainio joins us to talk about his industry. how significant is the money coming in and out of tampa? >> thank you for inviting me to enjoin the boat -- enjoy the program. this is far and away the largest port in the state of florida in terms of tonnage. it is one of the largest in the nation in terms of physical size. we handle all types of goods. everything from containers to energy products. fertilizers, you name it, we

move it. diversity is a significant aspect of what we do. in terms of importance to the west central region, we have 9 million people depending on this pork for their energy products. we export huge quantities of fertilizer. that is a giant business in central florida, employing literally thousands of people. construction materials, almost all the building blocks of the west central florida economy are somehow linked here. >> how about -- host: how about those cruise ships? guest: we are not quite in the leak of the largest in the world, but we are very large.

we are expected to reach an all- time record level of passenger movement. this probably makes us about the sixth largest home cruise port in the nation. going right through the recession, that business has grown and continues to expand, contributing a lot of money to the port, which we reinvest in the cargo operations and infrastructure developments so important to the region. host: if you would like to join the conversation, here are the numbers to call. republic -- for republicans, 202-737-0002. for democrats, 202-737-0001. for independents, 202-628-0205. you just mentioned the recession and the impact it has had or not had on the port.

this shows the percentage decline that the major florida ports have experienced. how much help -- of an impact has this had? guest: both the private terminals and public terminals, there have been during recessions a significant decline in tonnage. most of it linked to contributing decline in the fertilizer business. extent, it is linked to the construction industry. limestone, aggregate steel products. residential construction in particular is a big part of what we do. but it is coming back.

we are seeing signs and are starting to see growth through various segments of our business. for example, steel, for the first time in four years is starting to show significant activity. which is a good sign, as we are in a leading indicator of the economy. we are seeing growth at this point after several years of decline. not just in tampa, as you indicated. not only did you have the worst recession in the world, but globally trade actually declined for the first time in post-world war ii period. is not just the u.s. economy, it

is trading in general. host: let's hear from bob, republican from long island. caller: good morning. the question that i have regards homeland security. i have followed the problems related to court security throughout the new york area. what is being done, specifically, to protect our country from possible dangers from afar? guest: that is a great question. obviously, security is a huge component of what we do, not only in florida, but all over this country. security has always been a component. since 9/11, that has had to be

ratcheted up immensely. one of the things about florida, because of the last couple of decades it has been a gateway for drugs and collectivity. the state of florida have already put in place state security prior to 9/11. when 9/11 occurred and the federal government got involved and started to fund security infrastructure projects, florida benefited because we had a law in place and projects on the drawing boards, ready to go. we had a head start. i think that security at these ports is good or better than anything you could find in this country. clearly no system is foolproof. when you have to balance them out, it becomes particularly

difficult, but i think we have a multi-layered approach in florida. in terms of infrastructure, our ports are quite secure. host: does anything keep you up at night when you think about all everything coming in and out of the port? biggest concerns? guest: from a security perspective, of course what we worry about is that we are such a large and diverse support. we handle many different types of cargo critical to the economy. you also want those energy products to be able to continue to move without easy interference. there are many chemicals, dangerous chemicals moving through.

we have not had any significant issues here. security, this is a layered approach. there are all kinds of local law enforcement folks involved. the federal government obviously has a major role. customs and border protection is responsible for most of it, obviously. we have many partners working together to keep the port secure. frankly, i generally sleep well at night. host: if you would like to join the conversation, here are the numbers to call. for republicans, 202-737-0002. for democrats, 202-737-0001. for independents, 202-628-0205. let's take a look at some of the facts, some of which our guest

has detailed for us. this is the largest cargo tonnage port in florida. it is a major home port for cruise ships. it is also a gateway for western and central florida, with an economic oakland of $8 billion. tell us more about how these facts that stand out. what does that look and feel like? how accessible is that to the public? guest: one of the competitive advantages that this port has over most in the nation, if not all, is that we have a lot of land. this allows us to partner with

many different companies, bringing them in and actually leasing land to build the facilities that create jobs and economic value, moving a lot of cargo in and out as well. most ports provide a service. they ask if they have -- they can move something on or off the docks. by virtue of the plan, we are able to partner and develop facilities to create tens of thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in economic benefits. that is one of the important elements of what we do here. from an economic perspective, we are often called the largest economic engine in central florida. the $8 billion, obviously that

has probably dropped some during the recession, but by any measure it is an enormous we don't create, many of them we support through activities that are critical to the economic engine of west central florida. as far as working with the environmental side and local community, we have great relations with everyone. -- two things probably more seriously, two things you have to do every time to be more successful. you have to be safe, secure, and you have to be extremely aware of the environmental impact. doing everything you can to make sure the environmental side of things is done properly.

host: there are some environmental initiatives that the port is taking seriously, such as the longshore bar estuary program. plus the efforts being made at one of the facilities there. joey, brownsville, texas. go right ahead. caller: i have heard a lot about the ships coming from panama and what they are building. i wondered how the others in florida are getting ready to prepare for these giant ships that they are supposed to be working in the next couple of years. we are on the scene, giving you a view of what it looks like. richard, go ahead. caller: that is my favorite

question so far. i was born and raised in panama and spent 20 years working there. before i left, i had a role in helping to move the expansion forward. you are exactly right, they are building a third lane. there will be not only a tremendous capacity to the system with containerships three times as large as the ones that can go through. the current ships going through can handle more than about 4400 of what we call 20 foot equivalent unit containers. the newer ships, the bigger ones from 2015, 2016, those ships will be able to carry as many

as 12,000. they are very large. all over the east coast and the gulf, boston, many ports are preparing. some of them are deepening. some of them are adding facilities and new cranes, bigger cranes. billions in investment is going in to prepare. i would add that even though bigger ships will be coming and it will create opportunities for a number of ports, the big ship is not going to be the lion's share of their business. we believe that the work force host expansion will be a container ship between 5,000 feet and 8,000 feet of use. most of the ships will be coming from south america into florida.

they do not all have to be 50 feet deep. they do not all have to have mega-containers. but there are some, like new york, savannah, and miami, the are expanding. most of us are doing something to prepare for the shifting trade patterns. again, it is just one element in global trade. for florida, specifically, let america, that is more important to us. most of our growth is going to come from the north-south trade, not the west trades. host: mark, republican line, good morning. caller: yes. i believe that our country is doing a bad job because we export very little, but we

import a lot from other countries. is that true? guest: yes, no, i would say it is not true in the terms the you put it. you are correct that we import more than the export. that is a fact. but we do export a lot. we are still the leading trading nation on the face of the planet. obviously we are the no. 1 importer of goods in the world. but on the export side, along with china and germany, we are right there in the top three. far ahead of other countries in the world in terms of exports. we are all focused on increasing those exports. president obama not long ago announced an initiative to double exports to bar our

governor, governor scott from increasing exports. also, exports are absolutely essential for the port. these big container ships, they cannot just bring cargo in, they have to take it out as well. they are not utilize fully, inbound and outbound. they will not be coming and going in your port. all the numbers in the last year show exports increasing faster than imports. we are doing a pretty good job increasing exports. there is a lot more that we can do. this country can remain competitive. there is no reason why we should not be able to increase exports significantly in the years ahead. host: hurricane isaac is

wreaking havoc in louisiana and new orleans with heavy rainfall. what impact has this already had on you? what impact might it have? guest: we did close the port of tampa briefly, just in case the storm swung our way. luckily, it passed through and we got quickly back into service. it is operating normally at this time. we had no problems as a result of the storm. obviously, we are concerned over what we see happening in louisiana. clearly it is disrupting shipping patterns. i think that any movement of ships around the gulf, for the most part they would be moved over to houston or mobile. i do not think that there will

be a significant impact on the tampa as a result of this tropical storm, now hurricane isaac. but it is currently disrupting shipping around louisiana area. this storm will pass, the port of new orleans will get back into service quickly, and for the most part you will not notice a significant impact on trade because of this. host: kathy, democratic line. caller: how are you? i had two questions to rescue. the gentleman that called answered some of my questions. when you mentioned infrastructure, it sounded to me like everything was fairly secure as far as security. do you think that is because of

the fact that with our president now in office, he might have had a little more to do with that as far as the extra security and the way that things are set up for shipping there? guest: thank you for that question. immediately after 9/11, this country started to invest heavily in the security of its ports. from nuclear power plants to tunnels. limiting it to my area of expertise, the federal government stepped up right away. as i mentioned earlier, the state of florida was ready to receive those funds and work closely with those ports. it happened fairly quickly. i do not like to play partisan politics. i think the federal government

has done a fine job through homeland security and the coast guard, which has a primary role in port security. customs protection is a large part of that as well. we have seen large sums of money come to port everyone is concerned about these large container ports and what might come in, but quite frankly the layer of security is much more extensive than most people appreciate. a lot of people commented that these are not checked, but that is simply not true. every single one is checked. that is where to get for the paperwork and information before the container leaves on the other side of the world.

ships are tracked, containers are tracked. various entities are checking the documentation and putting them through radiation detectors. all kinds of things are done to those. but where there is a yellow flag, if you think they may have come from some location that is a problem or the location does not look right, or x-rays suggest that something might be in it that is not documented properly -- again, there is a lot of security. none of it is foolproof, but not by any means. i think that it works well. host: richard, we will be talking to you in your last few

weeks on the job. you announced a couple of weeks ago the planned to step down on september 7. a lot of the folks that work with you were surprised. they used the word shocked. they said that you won a battle last summer against the administration about your tenure. why are you leaving? what do you hope your legacy remains? guest: let me start with the last part of the question first. legacy, it is not my legacy that remains. it is the legacy of a lot of people at the port of tampa that works extremely hard to make sure that it works well. that we are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the infrastructure and at this point the region is going to needed for years to come.

we are well-positioned as a port to grow. we have an absolutely fabulous staff. when a new leader comes in to take my position, the first thing they will find is that we have great people working for them and they stack up against the best in the industry. from marketing to operations. it is a very that staff, well positioned. what i am particularly pleased about, the port is extremely solid financially. in the 7.5 years i have been here, every year it has seen record growth and revenues. spending hundreds of millions of dollars on infrastructure to modernize and turn it into something very special i have spent 7.5 years at this point

and two years at the port of palm beach -- almost 10 years in florida public service. i felt that 10 years in the public eye was long enough for anyone. i am looking forward to moving into the private sector and perhaps playing a continuing role in the industry, working with ports and maritime interests around the country. internationally, since coming see -- and i didn't important reason -- for the departure was i had kids in high school and a lovely wife and i wanted to spend more time, give more flexibility to my family.

that is really what drove it. the hardest thing is leaving the great staff and years. but again, i am confident that they will move this port for -- the sport forward just fine. joining us. you for as he mentioned, he oversees the port of tampa. that is part of our spot like that we are bringing you this week as the republican national convention takes place in tampa, florida. that is all for "washington journal" this morning. what will be back tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. eastern for coverage of the republican national convention. let's take a look at what is on the docket tonight. c-span will bring you live coverage throughout the evening appeared at 10:00 p.m., condoleezza rice takes the stage to address republicans. also, the governor of new

mexico, governor susanna martinez. and representative paul reihan, a candidate for vice president, will give his acceptance speech. you can find everything online at our convention hub at c- span.org/rnc. you can find archives from last night, a sense of what is to come over the next few days as well as historical items of interest. and if you missed some of last night's speeches, you are in luck because we've got ann romney coming up in just a moment. we will show you the speech that she gave last night to republicans in tampa. we will get your responses and phone calls and we'll also hear from governor chris christie. that is all coming up in just a moment. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

[cheers and applause] >> hello! what a welcome. [cheers and applause] thank you. and thank you, luce. i cannot wait to see what we will all do together. this will be so exciting! [cheers and applause] just so you all know, the hurricane has hit landfall and i think we shall take this moment and recognize that fellow americans are in its path

and just hope and pray that all remain safe and that no life is lost and no property is lost. we should all be thankful for this great country and great hope for our first responders to keep us safe in this wonderful country. [applause] well, i want to talk to you tonight not about politics and not about party. while there are many important issues that we will hear discussed in this convention and throughout this campaign tonight, i want to talk to you from my heart about our hearts. [cheers and applause] i want to talk about not what divides us, but what holds us together as an american family.

i want to talk to you tonight about that one great thing that unites us, that one great thing that brings us to our greatest joy when times are good and the deepest solace in our dark hours. tonight, i want to talk to you about love. i want to talk to you about the deep and abiding love i have for a man i met at a dance many years ago. and the profound love i have and i know we share for this country. i want to talk to you about that love so deep, only a mother can fathom it. a love that we have for our children and our children's children. and i want us to think tonight about the love we shared for those americans, our brothers and our sisters, who are going through difficult times, whose days are never easy and nights are always long and his work

never seems done. they're here with us tonight in this hall. they are here in neighborhoods across tampa and all across america. the parents who lie awake at night, side by side, wondering how they will pay the mortgage or make the rent. the single dad who is working extra hours tonight so that his kids can buy new clothes for school, can take a school trip or play a sport. so his kids can feel, you know, just like other kids. and the working moms who love their jobs, but would like to work justin little less to spend -- just a little less to spend more time with the kids, but that is just out of the question with this economy. or how about that coupled with like to have another child but wonder how they will be able to afford it? i have been all across this country and i know a lot of you guys. [cheers and applause]

and i have seen and heard stories of how hard it is to get ahead now. you know what? i have heard your voice is. they have said to me i am running in place and we just cannot get ahead. sometimes, i think that, late at night, if we were all silent for just a few moments and listened carefully, we could hear a collective sigh from the moms and dads across america who made it through another day and know that they will make it through another one tomorrow. but in the end of that a moment, they are just not sure how. and if you listen carefully, you'll hear the women find a little bit more than the men. it is how would this, isn't it? it is the moms who have always had to work a little harder to make everything right. it is the mom's of this nation, single, married, widowed, who really hold the country together. we are the mothers. we are the wives.

we're the grandmothers. we're the big sisters. we are the little sisters and we are the daughters. you know it's true, don't you? [cheers and applause] i love you, women! [cheers and applause] and i hear your voices. those are my favorite fans down there. you are the ones who have to do a little bit more and you know what it is like to earn a little bit harder earn the respect you deserve at work and then come home to help with the book report just because it has to be done. you know what those late-night phone calls with an elderly parent are like. you know what it's like to go to the emergency room and which doctor answers the phone call when you call at night and i know all about that. you know what it is like to sit

in a graduation ceremony and wonder how it was that so many long days turned into years that went by so quickly. you are the best of america. [applause] you -- [cheers and applause] you are the hope of america. there would not be an america without you. tonight, we salute you and sing your praises! [cheers and applause] i am not sure if men really in a stand this, but i don't think -- really understand this, but i don't think there is a woman in america who really expected live to be easy. -- expects her life to be easy. in our own ways, we all know better. that is fine. we don't want easy. but the last few years have been hotter than they needed to be. -- harder than they needed to

be. it is all the little things, the price of the pump you could not believe and the grocery store bill that is bigger good all the things that used to be easy, like high-school sports are now one more bill to pay. the little things become the big things. and the big things, the kids going to college and the home you want to buy have become harder. everything has become harder. we are too smart and know that there are no easy answers. but we are not dumb enough to know that there are not better answers. [cheers and applause] and that is where this boy that i met at a high school dance comes in. his name is mitt romney and you should really get to know him. [cheers and applause] i could tell you about him again he was tall and laugh a lot. he was nervous. girls like that.

it shows a guy is a little intimidated. he was nice to my parents. he was also really glad when they were not around. [laughter] i don't mind that. but more than anything, he made me laugh. some of you might not know this, but i am the granddaughter of a welsh coal miner. [applause] he was determined that his kids get out of the mines. my dad got his first spot in a little village in wales. he was 6 years old. cleaning bottles. when he was 15, dad came to america. in our country, he saw hope and opportunity to escape from poverty. he moved to a small town in the great state of michigan. [cheers and applause] michigan! [cheers and applause] there he started a business, one he built by himself, by the way.

[laughter] [cheers and applause] he raised a family and he became mayor of our town. my dad would remind my brothers and me how fortunate we were to grow up anyplace like america. he wanted us to have every opportunity that came with life in this country. he pushed us to be our best and to give our all appeared inside -- and to give our all. inside the houses that line the streets in downtown, there were a lot of fathers teaching their sons and daughters the same values good one of those ads was my future father-in-law, george romney. [applause] this data never graduated from -- this dad never graduated from college. instead, he became a carpenter. he worked hard and then he became the governor of michigan. when we fell in love, we were determined not to let anything stand in a way of our future. i was episcopalian and he was morning. we were both in college. -- he was mormon. we were both in college.

there were many reasons to wait. but we just didn't care. we got married and moved into a basement apartment. [cheers and applause] we walked to class together, eight a lot of pasta and tuna fish. -- we shared the housekeeping and we ate a lot of pasta and tuna fish. our dining room table was a pull down dining board in the kitchen. but those were the best days. then our first son came along. all at once, a 22-year-old who was going to business school and law school at the same time, probably like every other girl who finds herself in a new life far from family and friends with a new baby and a new husband, it dawned on me that i had absolutely no idea what i was getting into. [laughter] that was 42 years ago. i survived.

we now have five sons and 18 beautiful grandchildren. [cheers and applause] i am still in love with that boy that i met at a high school bands and he still makes me laugh. [cheers and applause] i read somewhere that mitt and i have a storybook marriage. well, let me tell you something. in the storybooks i read, there never were long, long rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once and the storybooks never seemed to have chapter's called m.s. or breast cancer. this storybook marriage? nope, not at all. what mitt romney and i have is a real marriage. [cheers and applause]

i know the good and decent man for what he is. he has tried to live his life with a set of values based on family, faith, and one of service to his fellow man. i have seen him work several of -- several hours. he has been there for late- night calls of panic from a member of our church with a child taken to the hospital. you may not agree on his issues on politics. massachusetts is only 13% republican, so it is not a shock to me. [laughter] but let me say this to every american who is thinking about who should be our next president. no one will work harder.

no one will care more. and no one will move heaven and earth like mitt romney to make this country a better place to live. [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] it's true that mitt has been successful at each news challenge he has taken on. i know that he has been

attacked. are those really the values that made our country great? as a mom, do we want to to raise their children afraid of success? do we send our children out in the world with the advice tried to do okay? >> know! no!nl >> and let's be honest. if the last four years had been more successful, do we really think there would be this attack on mitt romney's success? >> no! >> of course not. he would be the first to tell you that he is the most fortunate man in the world. he had to loving parents who taught him the value of work. he had the chance to get the education his father never had. but, as his partner in this amazing journey, i can tell you mitt romney was not handed success. he built it. [cheers and applause]

[chanting] >> let's go mitt! let's go, mitt! >> he stayed in massachusetts and got a job. i was there when he had a small group of friends talking about starting a new company. i was there when they struggled and wondered if the whole idea was just not going to work. his reaction was to work harder and press on. today, the company has become another great american success story. has it made those who started the company successful beyond their dreams? yes, it has. it allowed us to give our sons a chance at good educations and made those long hours of the reports and homework worth every minute. it has given us the deep

satisfaction of being able to help others in ways that we could never have imagined. this is important. i want you to hear what i am going to say. mitt does not like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point. [cheers and applause] we are no different than the millions of americans who quietly help their neighbors, their churches and their communities. they don't do it so that others will think more of them. they do it because there is no greater joy. be it and it shall be given unto you. -- give and it shall be given unto you. [cheers and applause]

but because this is america, that small company that helped so many lead better lives, the company that grew from the risk, that has helped fund scholarships, pensions and retirement funds. this is the genius of america. dreams fulfilled, help others launch new dreams. [cheers and applause] at every turn in his life, this man that i met at a high school dance has helped lift the others

feared he did it with the olympics when others wanted to give up. he did it in massachusetts where he guided the state. the massachusetts school for the best in the nation. the best. [cheers and applause] he started something that i really love it. he started the john and abigail adams scholarship which gives the top 25% of high-school graduates a four-year tuition- free scholarship. [cheers and applause] this is the man america needs. [cheers and applause] this is a man who will wake up every day with the determination to solve the problems that others say cannot be solved, to fix those who say will be beyond repair, this is the man who will work harder than anyone so that we can work a little less hard. i cannot tell you what will happen or the next four years. but i can only stand here tonight as a wife and a mother and a grandmother, an american, and make you this solemn commitment. this man will not fail. [cheers and applause]

this man will not let us down. this man will lift up america. it has been 47 years since that tall, kind charming young man brought me home from their first dance. not every day since has been easy. but he still makes me laugh and never once did i ever have the reason to doubt that i was the luckiest woman tonight. i said tonight that i wanted to talk to you about love. looking to your heart's. -- look into your hearts. this is our country. this is our future.

these are our children and grandchildren. you can trust mitt. [cheers and applause] he loves america. he will take us to a better place, just as he took me home safely from that dance. give him that chance. did america that chance. -- give the america that chance. god bless each and everyone of you and god bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause] ♪ [playing "my girl"] ♪

>> and that, of course, was ann romney from last night. she was scheduled to begin her talk at 10 06 p.m. eastern time, and at 10 06 p.m. eastern time she walked out on stage and began her speech. this is our live coverage from the 2012 republican national convention from tampa bay. on your screen is a live picture at the tampa bay * forum where

the convention is being held. the session tonight begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern, and of course, gavel-to-gavel coverage on c-span or on c-span.org if you would like to watch it on line. senator mitch mcconnell, senator rand paul, senator john mccain, senator robb portman, senator john to and will also be speaking tonight along with and --rico's governor i and mike huckabee and tim pawlenty. condoleezza rice will be speaking along with the governor of new mexico tonight at 10:00 p.m. and then finally, rep paul ryan will be accepting his nomination for vice president of the united states. that is all coming up. of course, so many events coming -- going on in the city.

we will be bringing some of those to you this afternoon. in about an hour or so we will bring you a women for ann romney breakfast that was held today. that is in and are an hour. we want to take this time and get your reaction to her speech, or what is calling on at the republican national convention. the numbers are up on the screen. we will begin with a call from eddie in jacksonville, fla., on our republican line. good afternoon. caller: good afternoon. i have appreciated you showing as much of this as you have shown. i just loved ann romney last night. i just absolutely loved her. she was great.

host: what was it about her that you loved? caller: she just walked out and it was like -- you could tell that she was really nervous. but as she kept talking, she got better and better and better with it. i think she hit it out of the park. i think she was great. host: what did you think of chris christie? caller: thank you. host: all right, thank you for calling in. our next call comes from auburn, indiana. raymond, you are on c-span. we are live from tampa. what would you like to say? caller: i would like to say i hope he is our next president. we need to get the bad guy out of the white house, which is obama. i back him 100%.

host: why is it in your view that president obama is a bad apple? caller: everything he has done has gone the other way. he went back on his word. he is a big spender. everything he does goes bad. host: that was raiment in auburn, indiana, just north of fort wayne. eric is in the d.c. suburbs, a democrat. as a democrat, have you been watching the republican convention? caller: yes, i have. and what i have is an objective mind. i sit back and i watch it and they want to put everything on this president. they want to take the country back. you want to take the country back from what?

i was listening to chris christie from new jersey. he was talking about how well he has done in new jersey. if the republican house would come across to the president like the democrat house in new jersey has come across to him, things would be working better. they cannot just blame this on the president. if it is wrong in washington, it is wrong on everybody. do you know i'm saying? and as far as the teleprompter, that was a script for her. give it out of your heart. host: that is eric in laurel, maryland. by the way, michelle obama will be speaking the first night of the democratic convention in charlotte. that is tuesday, september 4. and of course, c-span will be bringing you live coverage of

the democratic national convention beginning on tuesday, september 4 as well. just three nights for the democrats is what they have planned because of the labor day holiday. that will all be live. i apologize, that is wednesday, september 4. i think that is supposed to be tuesday, though. because of timber for it is on tuesday. we are showing new -- september 4 is on a tuesday. we are showing you live pictures of tampa. the clouds are rolling back in. yesterday, for the first time since the convention began there was a little bit of sunshine during the day. there seems to be something swirling around again out here. i think they are expecting a little bit more rain. sharon from riverview, fla., on the republican line. what are your impressions of the convention? what would you like to specifically talk about? caller: i think is going great, considering they have saac

come through -- they had isaac come through. i want to know why no one is bringing up this commercial that obama has out with the $6,500 more per year health insurance. if mitt romney gets into office. my parents had to say exactly that amount in the health care insurance. it went up because of, let -- obama let them closedown the retirees' insurance plans. nobody is bringing that up. host: sharon, rand paul is speaking tonight. he will be in the 7:00 p.m. eastern time slots along with senator mcconnell. he is due to talk about health care. to senator mcconnell as well,

his topic is problems with the obama administration. i think he will get a little bit of what your looking for tonight during the convention. by the way, everything we have covered here in tampa, all of the different events are available at convention hub, which is at c-span.org. you will see right there front and center, the republican national convention. you can click on that and everything we have covered is available for you to watch online. we are also falling tweets from delegates. you can see what they are quitting in real time. -- yweeting in real time. you can take a video and e-mail it or send it out to friends and family. there are a lot of different interactive aspects to our convention of this year. c-span.org is the website. dwane, a democrat from

alexandria, va., good afternoon from tampa. what do you think of the republican convention so far? caller: i am just watching it for entertainment. i do not really think much of the republicans. i think the storm, isaac, was may be a warning to the republicans. they are to start telling the truth a little bit or somebody might get mad at them. but what i would like to see is money get out of politics, democrats or republicans. i am an obama supporter. i have my t-shirt on right now. i also agree with everything eric said, the democrat from laurel. the problem with our democracy today is that it is basically money running the country. we have to get back to our

principles where the people run the country. her speech was fine. it was a very nice speech. but like someone said, that was just something that was written for her. she is a very good speech teller. it is not what they say, but what they do. mitt romney's record shows that what he likes to do is to buy up companies, fire the people, sen the jobs overseas, make lots of money, and take millions of jobs. he says he creates jobs when he really gets rid of jobs. and the problems with the country, you know, if the republicans would get rid of this tea party, the tea party, to me, is the american taliban. there is no difference between the taliban and the tea party, and my opinion.

what we need is for americans to -- host: [unintelligible] all right, we're going to leave your comment there. the president and ceo of staples will be speaking at the convention on thursday night prior to mitt romney speaking. dwayne, you mention money. there are 15,000 members of the media here in tampa along with the 2600 delegates and 2100 alternates. national journal is one of the publications here. they put out what they call their convention daily. you can see their story here. chief executives skipping the festivities is the title of this story. one paragraph in this story briefly -- they are skipping tampa because of anti-wall street sentiment, tough logistics, or just simply fewer guarantees that the schlep will be rewarded with the nef meetings to move the policy

forward. the next call comes from bill in west memphis, arkansas. the independent line. hi, bill. caller: first, let me just say that i am an immigrant. escape from a communist country. when i got here, i thought, what a great country this is. i would listen to all of the conventions. lately, i do not stay up and watch the conventions because nobody does what they say they are going to do. the one thing i have found out since i have lived both in the south and midwest is that the typical examples of the last two democratic speakers are dwane and eric. especially dwane, who thinks about money running the country, which is true if you look at it, but he does not go further than

to blame the republicans without looking internally on the democrats. as a person who escaped from a communist country, i have heard the speeches that have been given in 2008 by president obama. and i told all my friends, watch out. i have heard this before. and i talked to several other people who escaped, when from the ukraine, georgia, yugoslavia, hungary, and they also told me the same thing. host: given what you have said -- caller: yes? host: given what you have said, bill, are you voting this year? and if so, which way are you leaning? caller: yes, i am voting. i am voting this year because i

want to see us back to the way we were back in the 1950's, 1960's where we had growth, entrepreneurship going on, etc. it was a wonderful time at that time. we have lost that now host: for whom are you voting? caller: i am leaning toward governor romney. host: all right, that was built in west memphis, ark. on our independent line. we have been showing you pictures. right behind us is the tampa bay * form in downtown tampa. up until this year it was named the st. pete times forum in downtown tampa. but the tampa bay times is the

name of the newspaper now. it is the largest paper here in the tampa bay region. here is the front page. "get to know him." you can see front page of the tampa bay times this morning. maria, you are on c-span. what do you think of the convention so far? caller: i think is going great. i think this country can go in the direction that mitt romney can take it. as far as ann speaking from her heart and not having a speech writer, of course, she had a speech writer. but i think it was all from her heart. it was heartfelt. they came from a wealthy family who made their way. on the democratic side, obama said he would change the face of america. he will change it if he gets elected. he will make the people totally dependent on the government. if you control the people and

their money, you can control everything. i am on medicare. this health care program is terrible. it will be out waited. it will put the health care system back 50 years of lease. i am voting for mitt romney. host: maria, most of the polls are showing that president obama is ahead in the state of florida by 1% or 2% right now. have you talked to some of your neighbors or friends who have disagreed with your opinion? >> yes, i have talked to a lot of people. and a majority of those that are also on medicare, they are afraid that mitt romney is going to strip the medicare system. he is not going to strip it. he will just change it. obama will make you so dependent, and doctors will not be able to practice medicine like they need to. what will happen is, a test now

that they need to do, let's say, an mri, the medicare system will send you cannot do that. have rehab to go and for three months. the system will be antiquated and the people that are for obama are die-hard democrats. they are just scared from what the news says that mitt romney is going to strip the system. i think he will not do that. i think obama is going to make medical care antiquated. it will not be the best health care for the seniors, or anyone else. but mainly the seniors under medicare. host: all right, maria. we have to leave it there. we're running a little short on time. speaking of medicare, that was one of the issues that all ryan has discussed.

tonight is his night. he will be this -- accepting the vice-presidential nomination for the republican party. that is in the 10:00 p.m. hour of the conntion. condoleezza rice and gov. martinez of mexico also be speaking during that hour. that is tonight beginning at 7:00 p.m. and you can watch it on c-span, of course, as well as at c-span.org at our convention of. all live, gavel-to-gavel coverage. next week, the democrats are meeting in charlotte. it will be covering that gavel- to-gavel as well, of course. michelle obama will be speaking on the first day of the convention, which is tuesday, september 4. by the way, c-span has a new series beginning. it is about the first lady. here is a preview.

>> if we turn away from the needs of others, we align ourselves with those forces that are bringing about the suffering. >> we ought to take advantage of it. >> obesity in this country is nothing short of a public health crisis. >> when somebody had their own agenda. >> i think they serve at -- as a window on the past to what is going on with american women. >> she becomes the chief confidante. she is really, the only one in the world he can trust. >> many of the women who work first ladies, a lot of the war writers, journalists. they wrote books. >> there are quite frankly, more

interesting as human beings and their husbands. if only because they are not defined and politically limited by ambition. >> dolly was politically savvy. >> dolly madison loved every minute of it. mrs. monroe absolutely hated it. >> you cannot rule without including what women want and what women have to contribute. >> there was too much looking down. i think it was a little too fast. not enough change of pace. >> probably the most tragic of all of our first ladies. they never shared a bed. >> she later wrote in her memoir that she said, i, myself never made any decision. my only decided what was important and when to presented to my husband. you stop and think about how

much power that is. it is a lot of power. >> part of the battle against cancer is to fight the fear that accompanies the disease. >> she transformed the way we looked at these bugaboos and made it possible for countless people to survive and to flourish as a result. i do not know how many presidents realistically have that kind of impact on the way we live our lives. >> just walking around the white house grounds, i am constantly reminded about all of the people who have lived there before, and particularly, all of the within. >> first ladies, influence and image, a new series on c-span produced in cooperation with the white house historical association. coming in february, 2013.

host: we are back live in tampa. a full afternoon of events coming up. in about 40 minutes will bring you a win for romney breakfast that ann romney attended this morning. and then at 3:30 p.m., live coverage of president obama at a campaign rally in charlottesville virginia. that will be live from charlottesville at 3:30 p.m. eastern time. you can watch it in its entirety right here. and tonight, gavel-to-gavel coverage of day 3 of the republican national convention from 2012, tampa bay. some of the speakers include senator mitch mcconnell and rand paul. there will also be a video tribute to representative ron paul. at 8:00 p.m. eastern time,

senators mccain, soon, and portman are some of the featured speakers. at 9:00 p.m., the governor of puerto rico, tim pawlenty, and mike huckabee as well. and in the 10:00 p.m. hour, condoleezza rice, gov. susanna martina's of new mexico, and finally, paul reihan's acceptance speech for vice- president. bill clinton, rudy guiliani, barack obama, just a couple of the folks who have done the so- called keynote address. last night, it was chris christie turn. the governor of new jersey. we covered it live. but here is again.

>> thank you. [cheers and applause] thank you all very much. thank you. this stage and this moment are very improbable for me. a new jersey republican. [cheers] delivering the keynote address to our national convention. [applause] from a state with 700,000 more democrats than republicans. a new jersey republican stance before you tonight. i am proud of my party. proud of my state.

and proud of my country. [cheers and applause ] i am the son of a -- an irish father and a sicilian mother. my dad, who is -- to i'm happy to have here with me tonight is gregarious and outgoing and lovable. my mom, who i lost eight years ago, was the enforcer. [laughter] she all -- she made sure we knew who set the rules. in the automobile of life, dad was just a passenger. mom was the driver. [applause] they both lived hard lives. data grew up in poverty. and after returning from army service, he worked at the briers ice-cream plant in the 1950's. with that job and the g.i. bill, he put himself through rutgers university at night to become

the first in his family to earn a college degree. [applause] and our first family picture was on his graduation day with my mom been next to him six months pregnant with me. mom also came from nothing. she was raised by a single mother who took three different buses every day to get to work. and mom spent the time that she was supposed to be a kid actually raising children. her younger brother and younger sister. she was tough as nails and did not suffer fools at all. the truth was, she could not afford to. she spoke the truth bluntly, directly, and without much varnish. i am her son. [cheers and applause] i was her son as i listened to

the gardens on the edge of town with my high school friends on the jersey shore. i was her son when i moved into the studio apartment with mary to start a marriage that is now 26 years old. [applause] i was her son as i coach our sons, andrew and patrick on the field. and as i watched with pride as our daughters, sarah and bridget, marched with their soccer teams in the labor day parade. and i am still person today as governor, following the rules she taught me, and to fight for your principles. mom never thought you would get extra credit just for speaking the truth. the greatest lesson that mom ever taught me was this one. she told me that there would be times in your life when you have to choose between being loved and being respected.

she said to always pick being respected. she said that love without respect was always leading -- fleeting, but that respect could grow into a real and lasting love. of course, she was talking about when and. [laughter] -- when iwomen. [laughter] but i have learned over time it also applies to leadership. i think that applies to america more now than ever today. [applause] i believe that we have become paralyzed by our desire to be loved. our founding fathers had the wisdom to know that social acceptance and popularity were fleeting and that this country's principles needed to be reduced in strength greater than the passions and emotions of the times. our leaders today have decided to be popular, to say and do what is easy, and to say yes

rather than to say no when know is what is required. -- no is what is required. [applause] in recent years, we as a country have too often shows in the same path. it is easy for our leaders to say not us, not now, rather than take on the really tough issues. and unfortunately, we have stood silently by and let them get away with it. tonight, i say now off. -- enough. [applause] let's make a different choice. tonight we are speaking out for ourselves and stepping up. we are beginning to do what is right and necessary to make america great again. [cheers and applause] we are demanding that our

leaders stop tearing each other down and work together to take action on the big things facing america. tonight, we are going to do what my mother taught me. tonight, we're going to choose respect over the glove. -- over love. [applause] we are not afraid. we have taken our country back because we are the great- grandchildren of the men and women who have broken their backs over american ingenuity, the grandchildren of the greatest generation, the sons and daughters of immigrants, the brothers and sisters of everyday heroes, the neighbors of entrepreneurs and firefighters, teachers and farmers, veterans and factory workers, and everyone in between who shows up not just on the good days, but on the bad days and a hard day's each and every day. all 365 of them.

you see, we are the united states of america. [applause] now it is up to us. we must lead the way our citizens live. to lead the way my mother insisted i live, not by avoiding trips, especially the hard ones, but by facing up to them and been better for it. we cannot afford to do anything less. this was the challenge in new jersey. when i came into office i could continue on the same path that led to wealth and jobs and people leaving our state, or the job the people elected me to do, to the big things. there were those who said that -- it could not be done, but the problems were too big, too politically charged, and to

broaden to fix. but we were on a path that we could no longer afford to follow. they said this was impossible -- this is what they told me -- to cut taxes in a state where taxes times europe158 became governor. they said it was impossible to balance the budget -- the year i became governor. they said it was impossible to balance the budget. we have done it three years in a row without raising taxes. we did it. [cheers and applause) a they said it was impossible to touch the their rail of politics, to take on the public sector unions and to reform it published -- public health pension that was bankrupt. we saved taxpayers $132 billion over 30 years and we saved

retirement and health pensions. we did it. [applause] they said it was impossible to speak the truth to the teachers union. they were just too powerful. a real teacher tenure reform that demands accountability and ends a guarantee of a job for life regardless of performance. they said it would never happen. but for the first time in 100 years with bipartisan support, you know the answer. we did it. [cheers and applause] the disciples of yesterday's politics, they always underestimate the will of the people. they assumed our people were selfish, that when told of the

difficult problems, the tough choices, and a complicated solutions, that they would turn their backs, that they would decide it was every man for himself. they were wrong. the people of new jersey stepped up and shared in the sacrifice. they rewarded politicians who led instead of politicians who pandered. [cheers and applause] by you know, we should not be surprised. we have never been a country to shy away from the truth. our history shows that we stand up when it counts. it is this quality that has defined america's character and our significance in the world. i know this simple truth, and i'm not afraid to say it. our ideas are right for america, and their ideals -- ideas have failed america. [applause]

let me be clear with the american people tonight. here is what we believe as republicans and what they believe as democrats. we believe in telling hard- working families the truth about our country's fiscal realities. telling them what they already know, that the math of federal spending does not add up. with $5 trillion in debt added over the last four years, we have no other option but to make the hard choices, cut federal spending and group -- fundamentally reduce the size of this government. [applause] do you want to know what they believe? they believe that the american people do not want to hear the truth about the fiscal difficulties. they believe the american people need to be coddled by big government. they believe the american